Posted tagged ‘K Records’

Calvin Johnson is in Edmonton tonight, and he’s performing at the all-ages Elevation Room on Jasper Ave. Edmonton’s Liam Trimble, Halifax’s Nick Everett, and Vancouver’s Katie & The Lichen are also playing. Even if you haven’t heard of Johnson, you’ve likely been influenced by him. Here’s an excerpt from my MA thesis, discussing his importance:

…While [Bruce] Pavitt was still in Olympia, he met Calvin Johnson, who also volunteered at [college radio station] KAOS. Johnson, starting under similar circumstances to Pavitt, went on to form Beat Happening, a band that stressed emotion first, and musicianship a distant second. This vital component to the punk attitude was apparent from the Beat Happening’s first performance, which was at a house party where they did not have any equipment. The band played regardless, for Johnson felt that they could “proceed on their own terms,” without having to rely “on equipment or technical issues to be who [they] are.” The band continued with this approach throughout its career, never touring with a drum kit: “our attitude was if people don’t let us borrow drums then we can go grab a garbage can or cardboard box and that will do,” recalled member Bret Lunsford. Indeed, Heather Lewis estimated that Beat Happening had practiced 20 times by 1988. Lyrically, Calvin Johnson carried an air of innocence, but songs were often critical of chauvinism, or even the [baby] Boomers. In “Bad Seeds” Johnson sang, “the new generation for the teenage nation/ this time, let’s do it right.”